preparation

The attack on Guadalcanal and the surrounding islands was officially known as "Operation Watchtower". The idea to capture the Island was conceived in February of 1942. At first when it started on the U.S. Chief of Naval Operations Admiral Earnest King's desk the plan only included the neighboring islands. Later, when a United States reconnaissance brought back pictures of a Japanese airbase on the island, Guadalcanal was included in the invasion plans. Lieutenant Colonel Frank B. Goettge flew reconnaissance over Guadalcanal to make new maps because the latest maps of the island dated back to 1910. The United States 1st Marines were sent to New Zealand in March of 1942 to train for the upcoming battle. The 1st Marines had never seen combat so they had no experience. They trained on a strip of coastline similar to the landing sites on Guadalcanal. They practiced climbing down cargo nets into Higgins boats and charging the beach, but nothing could prepare them for the heat of actual combat. One Marine remarks," We were green when we hit the beach but you became a veteran out there fast." The thick vegetation, swamps, malaria mosquitoes and Kunai grass combined to make the terrain as deadly as the opposing Japanese.